Alpha Psi History

The Alpha Psi chapter of OX at the University of Maryland (UMD) established itself well before our formal founding on June 10, 1929. The chapter existed as a local fraternity at UMD starting in November 1920 and was known as Delta Mu. Delta Mu was founded as a social club by a group of five students on the campus under the leadership of Charles P. Wilhelm. In March 1923, UMD’s Inter-fraternity Council formally recognized Delta Mu and approved their membership into the school’s Greek system.

It was the idea of the original five founders to establish a fraternity house for Delta Mu. In December 1922, Delta Mu applied to the State Tax Commission of Maryland to incorporate and thus Delta Mu, Inc. formed. The new corporation (the precursor of our current House Corporation) established a board of directors that comprised of three alumni members of the fraternity and two undergraduate members.  

In March 1923, Delta Mu Inc. purchased its first fraternity house for $8,000. It was an existing structure somewhere in College Park. In the fall of 1924, Delta Mu first started their negotiations to become a chapter of Theta Chi. Theta Chi National at the time advised Delta Mu that they needed some form of a budget system to maintain long-term financial viability of the fraternity. Delta Mu put a budget system in place and from 1924-1927 raised enough money to pay their bills and to establish a reserve fund. A $12.50 “assessment” was applied each semester on an undergraduate’s chapter dues. Alumni members were also required to pay an annual assessment to help Delta Mu become financially stable. 

Delta Mu was growing in membership and had aspirations for a larger fraternity house. In May 1927, they enlisted an attorney and contemplated buying a piece of property on College Ave to build a new house but decided against the purchase. On December 5, 1927, Delta Mu Inc. decided to purchase seven lots bounded by “Princeton, Wellesley, and Dickinson streets” as a building site for what is now 7401 Princeton Ave. Delta Mu purchased the 100 x 200 foot lot for $1,500. In the spring of 1928, ground was broken and construction started. To finance the construction of the House, Delta Mu sold their original fraternity house for $8,500 and applied the $4,500 realized equity and their accumulated cash reserves to the project. The first mortgage on the House was a $20,000 (20-year note) underwritten by 20 Delta Mu alumni. The fraternity took on a second mortgage of $5,300 to purchase new furniture for the House. The House construction finished in July/August 1928 and the total cost of the completed project, including land, building, furnishings, and landscaping was approximately $40,000.

While the House construction project was underway, Delta Mu continued petitioning OX National to become part of their national fraternity. As was customary at that time, the existing OX chapters had to vote to allow another for another new chapter. Delta Mu request to become a part of OX was denied in 1927. This denial was explained to Delta Mu as an “it isn’t you, it is us” type of issue. Theta Chi chapters at the time were hesitant to allow further expansion in the East Coast.

In 1929, Delta Mu had grown to 45 active undergraduates and 90 alumni and regarded as one of the top fraternities at Maryland. Delta Mu petitioned OX National again to become part of their national fraternity. Delta Mu was successful this time around, as forty-three of the forty-five chapters voted in the affirmative thus establishing Theta Chi’s Alpha Psi (46th) chapter. At the time, this was the highest recorded vote ever received by a local petitioning the Theta Chi national fraternity. Robert H Hoge, Executive Secretary of Theta Chi national fraternity said, “Such widespread approval is significant as to the high standing of the University of Maryland among the universities and colleges of national standing.” 

It is great to see the undergraduate chapter, the alumni association and our House in such good shape after close to 100 years of existence at the UMD. We look forward to celebrating OX’s Founders Day and Alpha Psi’s founding at our Annual Founders Day event.